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Tentative itinerary for Oct. 12 - Nov. 2, 2015

Hi all. I'm solidifying my itinerary for my upcoming trip and wanted to run it by you to make sure I'm not overlooking anything, and have scheduled enough time. I haven't bought plane tickets yet but am looking at open-jaw, STL - AMS and LHR - STL.

Oct. 12 - depart STL for Amsterdam

Oct. 13 - arrive in Amsterdam and stay 3 nights. I've been here before but want to see things I missed, like the Hidden Church.

Oct. 16 - afternoon train to Hamburg to visit a friend and stay through Oct. 21. I'm thinking 3 full days for the city, and two day trips to Quedlinburg and Goslar (or similar half-timbered towns). Or we could leave Hamburg on the 20th and visit those towns. Are they too far for reasonable day trips?

Oct. 21 - we train to Weimar to visit a mutual friend. Stay 2 or 3 nights. Is there a lot to do here or nearby for 3 nights' worth? I want to see the Bauhaus museum but am not very interested in Goethe or Schiller.

Oct. 23 or 24 - Hamburg friend and I train to Mosel River Valley and stay through Oct. 27.

Oct. 28 - my friend returns to Hamburg and I fly to London, then get on a train to Wales. I assume I'll fly FRA - LHR but am interested to hear others' opinions about this.

Oct. 28 and 29 - stay in Wales and visit Conwy and Caernarfon castles. I'll only be in Wales for 2 nights and those castles are the only sites I want to visit, so I think 2 nights plus most of Friday the 30th is enough time. If you disagree, please say so!

Oct. 30 - afternoon / evening train back to London to visit a friend.

Nov. 2 - fly back home

Posted by
4684 posts

Hamburg-Goslar is two and a half hours and Quedlinburg will probably be longer. My personal suggestion would be to stay in one and visit the other for a day. You can then get to Weimar in about three hours (it's not far but the trains are slow).

Posted by
11294 posts

I saw everything I wanted to see in Weimar in a day, but it is a nice place to hang out. However, Ehrfurt was great (I saw it in 2004, long before Rick started putting it in his Germany book), and it's only about 15 minutes away from Weimar, so you can certainly go there if you want a new place.

Posted by
8923 posts

Look into Manchester as alternative to Heathrow. I don't know who flies there from Hamburg, but anything to avoid Heathrow.

Posted by
7151 posts

I agree with Stan. Manchester is more convenient for getting to Caernarfon or Conwy, just a couple of hours on the train and you wouldn't have to mess with the hassle of LHR.

Edit: I'm not sure about flights from FRA to MAN, but I did see a cheap flight on Germanwings from Hamburg to MAN, maybe you could return with your friend and fly out of there.

Posted by
1976 posts

Thank you all for this great advice. Harold (and anyone else who's been to Ehrfurt), what did you like about it?

Flying into MAN is a great idea as well. I flew there a few years ago but had such a bad experience I must have blocked it!

Posted by
1976 posts

Thank you, Southam. I'll add that website to my notes.